Climate Cardinals names Emma Shockley as Chief Programs Officer
New York City, NY – August 5, 2025 — Climate Cardinals, the world’s largest youth-led climate nonprofit organization, is pleased to announce the appointment of Emma Shockley as its Chief Programs Officer (CPO). Supported by a recent grant from an anonymous donor, her appointment is a significant step towards strengthening the organization’s executive leadership.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Emma holds a B.A. in Cognitive Science with a concentration in Computation and Cognition and a minor in Consumer Psychology. She graduated magna cum laude and received highest honors for her thesis in Computational Neuroscience.
Originally from Florida, Shockley has a deep understanding of the climate crisis, informed by direct experience with its escalating regional impacts. She previously led Climate Cardinals international recruitment in 2022, overseeing team development across twelve different teams. After rejoining in 2023 as a Strategy Consultant, she led a major restructuring, producing bylaws, hiring the nonprofit's first Executive Director and onboarding over a hundred directors. As a Co-Founder of Rhizome, she developed long-term growth strategies for more than 20 chapters and expanded grassroots civic engagement.
While at Penn, Shockley was elected to the Undergraduate Assembly, where she directed the Community Engagement and Sustainability Committee, held a seat on the Student Advisory Group for the Environment, served as Penn Wellness Liaison and Social Responsibility Chair, and contributed to Penn Climate Ventures.
Emma's appointment as CPO reflects Climate Cardinals commitment to strategic growth grounded in accessibility, equity, and scientific expertise. Her passion for inclusive leadership, innovation, and climate action complements Climate Cardinals' mission to make climate education accessible across languages, borders, and generations.
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About Climate Cardinals
Climate Cardinals is the world’s largest youth-led climate education organization. We strengthen community resilience to climate change through language access and youth empowerment. With a volunteer community of 16,000 youth, Climate Cardinals has translated three million words of climate information in 105 languages for organizations like UNESCO, UNICEF, Yale, and the Italian Ministry of the Environment, led grassroots climate education initiatives at 130 schools in 35 countries, and created multilingual climate action campaigns, reaching 11 million people in 134 countries.
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